“See to the wounded,” I shouted to Noble.
Of course, he’d been the brilliant one to insist that I make a healing elixir before we’d left. I could only hope that most of our fallen were still alive enough to save.
We regrouped before our next strategic move.
To divide our force and send individual groups into the castles from here would be foolish without knowing what awaited us on the other side. Instead, we sealed the doors from the castles to the library by piling the dead up to block them. Then we’d be able to go from castle to castle without fear of them sneaking back to the portal here.
‘We’re done. All blood mages here are dead,’ Rage said. ‘I’m sending a force your way now. Justice is leading.’
Wait. ‘Aren’t you coming?’ I asked him.
‘I’m taking a small group up to the other portal—on Daybreak’s land. If any of the blood mages come through that way, we need to have a group there, or they could get away.’
‘Good thinking. We’re going on the hunt for the queen now.’
‘Be careful,’Rage said.
As if I needed the reminder.
We exited the library and stood on the path just north of the quad. From the steps, I could see four of the five castles, the landscape lighting on the grounds of each making the buildings glow. With the exception of our heavy breathing, the night was filled with eerie silence—unnaturally so.
“The queen was in Spirit Castle before,” I said.
“Then that’s probably a good place to start,” Kaja said, bumping my shoulder.
The others agreed, so we moved en masse to scout out their location. But by the time we reached my grandfather’s house, the queen and Kalama were gone. They’d left recently, judging by the half-eaten package of raw hamburger still on the counter—and the refrigerator door open. The entire castle was void of life.
“What now?” Reyna asked.
Ozark scanned the brightly lit room, his expression pinched. “I’ve often wondered if the blood mages have a hive mind like us selkies.”
As if we didn’t need anything more horrifying to deal with today.
Kaja jostled me as the leader of the lions pushed to the front of her pride to join the small group of leaders. I had Adrianna, the lion queen; Phoenix of the raptors; Cole of the bears, and somewhere, Carson and Jane were milling about. Honor brushed against my side in an expression of solidarity.
“Where do you think they’ve gone?” Adrianna asked. “Or are you certain the queen and her beta weren’t among the hundreds slain in the library?”
The thing was … I wasn’t sure. I’d been fighting just like everyone else, but I hadn’t stopped to see who’d been killed on either side. My insides churned with uncertainty, and I glanced at Kaja and then Ozark, who shook his head.
“I can feel the anxiety of my people,” the selkie king said, his voice low. “Deep in their souls, they don’t believe this is finished yet. The blood mages are a formidable foe—that was too easy.”
“Too easy?” Cole snarled. “I’ve lost nearly a dozen—”
“We’ve all lost!” Ozark slammed his fist to the counter. “This isn’t about our losses—not yet.”
Despite the vast number of deaths on both sides, I felt a similar trepidation. Like at any minute, someone could pull the rug out from under me.
My other scouts walked in then, and each one reported that all of the other castles were clear. No more blood mages.
Was it over? Did we win? “I—”
‘Nai!’ Rage screamed in my head, his voice filled with panic. ‘We’re under attack!’
Crap.
The other portal. That’s where we’d find the queen. I was sure of it!
* * *
